South America, Europe, and Africa Must Do's
Trip Start
Jul 01, 2009
1
58
84
Trip End
Dec 22, 2009
Livingstone,
Zambia
Friday, September 25, 2009
The next few days we spent relaxing at the camp, enjoying good breakfast and the chance to catch up on internet. It rained during the afternoons and we were lazy, reading and lounging and gradually meeting the new group. We spent more time with Toni and Lola the two girls who were going all the way to Nairobi with us from our original trip; I really like them. Lola is from Mexico, Monterrey and before coming on her trip had worked in consulting like Gabe, then left it to volunteer at orphanages in Brazil and Botswana. After we arrived to Nairobi she was going to continue on through Africa on her own then on to the Middle East before eventually heading back to Mexico in time for her mother's birthday. Toni is from London. She comes from a family of lawyers and was herself just hired by a law firm which will show her each type of litigation before she needs to choose one. In the meantime they were paying her while she was on vacation and she was taking numerous extended trips before she began work in January. All in all not a bad deal.
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Since I am posting this after completing the entire Africa trip here are a few recommendations from all our travels to date:
South America
- If you go to the Galapagos do consider a land based tour rather then a boat tour. You will likely not see as many islands however you will have an opportunity to see things without the tourist crush and your group will likely be much smaller. We had only three other people in our group.
- If you do the trek to Machu Picchu absolutely do do a trek to get there. We did the Salkantay Trail (which you read about) and the trek itself was as incredible as the actual site
- If you don’t mind exercise too much or heights and appreciate stunning views do climb up to Wannapicchu (which requires you to get to Machu Picchu early and sign up on the opposite side of the entrance).
- Cinque Terra in Italy is gorgeous and worth a visit. Do walk the paths between the villages, you can always take the train back.
- Do NOT miss Croatia and Slovenia when you go to Europe. I didn’t think anything could surpass Italy, what with it’s charming architecture, beautiful people and amazing food. Then I went to Rovinj, Croatia. It’s a must. Stay in the old part of town.
- Also do not miss Dubrovnik, I could live there tomorrow. I recommend renting a car and doing day trips to various places as we did.
- Do NOT miss Lake Bled in Slovenia. It is gorgeous. Rent a car in Croatia and drive through the Alps to get there. In Lake Bled take a bicycle to the waterfall. You’ll ride through the countryside to get there and it is gorgeous.
- Also do not miss Dubrovnik, I could live there tomorrow. I recommend renting a car and doing day trips to various places as we did.
- If you have some time but not 42 days (as we had) do the journey from Cape Town to Livingston, the second half of the trip up to Nairobi involved a lot of driving on poor roads, although the sites were still nice and the Serengeti and Ngoro Ngoro were very cool.
